Chapter 12 Kai
Chapter twelve
Kai
“What the hell do you want?”
Emma rests her shoulder against my front door, her smile wide.
“I’ve been looking for something.” Her dark gaze drops to my messenger bag and the spellbook tucked inside. “For that.”
My gaze shoots to the exit behind me, then back to the crazy blood mage.
I don’t want the bloody thing, but Emma’s the last person who should have it. Swallowing, I reach for a lie. But anything I’d say gets stuck behind my teeth.
“Listen.” She pushes herself up. “You want to get rid of that pesky spellbook, I can tell. Has it sunk its claws into your mind yet?”
I swallow, and despite being frozen, my thoughts are frantic.
“No?” She tuts. “Well, it will, Kai. That’s your name, right, Kai?”
Sweat prickles at my forehead.
“It’ll sink a claw into your mind—your magic, because I can sense it in you—and rot will spread from the inside out. Driving you mad. Or…” She reaches out a hand. “I can save you from all that messiness.”
I can’t even twitch a finger. Each inhale is a fight, and every exhale a struggle.
Then, like she’s revealing a magic trick, Emma lifts her palm with a dramatic flair, presenting the bleeding tip of her pointer finger. But instead of running down her skin, the blood rises, like a taut thread pulled upward, forming a wobbling red bead that hovers above her short nails.
‘Move! Just move! Fucking do something,’ I scream on the inside. But on the outside, I’m a statue.
“Oh, this? Don’t you worry. Just a little spell to keep you compliant. You see, Kai, there are many things I didn’t want to happen. Jace, for example. Who put me between a vampire and his mate, which,” she chuckles as if we’re two friends having a chat, “really was not ideal.”
The walls constrict as Emma closes the distance, her shoes hitting the floor like a clock ticking down. I beg my body to move, to run, even crawl away.
“And it looks like I’m involved with another vampire’s mate. Mondays, am I right?” She throws the question over her shoulder with a scoff, and I realise for the first time Emma isn’t alone.
Air lodges in my throat when I spot the small, unmoving figure slumped in the corner.
Even under the harsh buzz of fluorescents, the person is swallowed by shadows.
They’re naked, but long hair, like strips of wet seaweed, hangs over their face and obscures their body.
From here it’s difficult to make out if they’re breathing, but… something tells me they’re not.
“Let's be friendly about this,” Emma says, voice sweet enough to rot teeth.
“You give me the spellbook, and I give you something in return.” She uses her fingers to push my braids away from my face.
I try to pull back, but my efforts are worthless.
“How about this scar?” Her smile stretches. “I can get rid of it for you.”
I muster as much hate through my gaze as possible.
“Or I saw you speaking with that vampire, Vidar. He doesn’t return your feelings, does he?
Pity.” She comes closer, whispering. “But it doesn’t have to stay that way, Kai.
I can make him love you. Do what Jace tried to do with Golden.
But he was weak.” Her glare intensifies, voice solidifying, “and I’m anything but weak. ”
The body in the corner jerks, and a scream expands in my chest.
Its limbs shudder, and—with my feet nailed to the ground—I’m forced to watch as the body drags itself up like a puppet on invisible strings.
Any thought in my head dies as instincts take over, adrenaline pumping into my muscles to run away. But as the corpse—a woman—shambles closer, my legs ache from the strain of being unable to move.
“C’mon, Kai. I’m not asking for much, am I?” Emma’s voice is a distant thing as the woman creeps nearer. She doesn’t make a sound, no huff of breath or groan of pain. I have the ridiculous urge to shut my eyes and cover my ears and pretend this isn't happening.
Her skin is sickly pale with a waxy sheen, sagging like an old handbag.
But as she hobbles into the light, my heart breaks for this poor girl, even as my stomach turns.
Strange, jagged words are carved so deeply into her flesh that dull-pink muscle and white bone peek through.
Black thread is stitched around her arms, snaking up to her elbows, then winds around her neck like a noose.
More thread twists across her chest, down her stomach, all the way to her toes.
A tear runs down my cheek.
Emma’s dark eyes gleam. “I could force you to give it to me…”
The red bead grows spikes, like the head of a morningstar, and my hand lurches on its own, plunging into my messenger bag.
I strain against the presence pushing me, pressure building until I’m sure something inside me bursts.
But when my fingers close around the warm leather spine and I’m forced to pull out the spellbook and offer it to Emma, I know there’s no hope.
“H-...” Words fill my mouth like needles, each one raking against soft tissue as I’m forced to spit them out. “Ha-have t-this I-I… give it w-wil…lingly.”
Emma darts forward, but hisses when her fingers graze the leather and snaps back, her skin singed.
I hope it fucking hurts.
“Tricky,” she tuts. “Tricky book, and books can be so tricky, can’t they?” Emma doesn’t turn from me, but directs the question to the girl at her shoulder, whose head hangs low.
Defeated, heat begins to boil in my stomach. Fuck Emma, fuck all blood mages. I try to use my magic, but it’s as locked as my body.
Emma’s quick to compose herself, slapping on a big smile. “What am I doing? You can’t talk, silly me.” The drop of blood splatters to the ground, and for all the control it had over me, it’s the size of a penny.
Gasping, my limbs unfreeze, and I stumble into a corner, the book dropping with a thud between us.
“Fuck!” I shout just to prove I can.
“You’re right, I went too far.” She places her hand on her hip and shakes her head, as if to say ‘you know what I’m like’.
“I’m not giving you shit!” My voice shakes, hell, my whole body’s shaking with tears streaming down my face.
“Not even for Vidar’s love—”
Her threat to my soulmate fills me with such rage that I'm moving forward without thinking.
Emma’s gaze sharpens, and I halt. I might be trembling like a leaf, but I’m not falling back, either. “Vidar and me are already being fucked around enough by Fate. He’s a person, and I’d rather die than force that kind of love.”
She shrugs nonchalantly. “Not a human, a vampire—”
“It doesn’t matter!” My fists shake. It might be stupid to piss her off, but fuck this bitch. “Lemme be real fucking clear; I ain’t giving you shit!”
Emma's lips twitch. I’m pretty sure she’s about to lash out, but instead she smiles sweetly.
It’s the same look she gave Jace before he died.
“You know what?” Emma sings, the girl behind her unmoving. “You’re right. Who accepts the first offer? You’re just being a good businessman, and hey—” she opens her arms wide, “I appreciate that. In fact…” Emma winks conspiratorially. “I respect it.”
“You’re insane, that’s what you are.”
“I don’t want a war with the vampires, because despite what my sister thinks and my brother thought—” she snorts at this, as if sharing an inside joke. “What I want more than anything is a future for my people.”
Emma straightens, stares at me for what feels like an eternity, before meandering towards the door with all the confidence in the world. The girl follows, bare feet dragging.
“So, Kai, I’m willing to wait, because you’re going to change your mind. Before now, you were dealing with untrained baby mages,” she says, voice filled with laughter as she flicks her wrist and the girl crumbles.
Without thinking, I move to help, but reel back like I’ve been shocked by lightning, eyes wide and bile burning the back of my throat as the girl folds in on herself.
Skin stretches. Hair flies wildly. Bone and muscle crack and reform until there isn’t a girl anymore—but a blood mage spellbook.
Stomach rolling, I heave and vomit splatters on the floor.
“But now Mummy’s here to show you how it's really done.”
With that, Emma scoops up the book that used to be a girl and sweeps out the door, cackling like the wicked witch.
My legs wobble as I collapse into a heap. “Fuck,” I curse, and keep repeating until I can no longer hear the echoes of her laughter.